Back in the early days of the Internet, when newsgroups were still in vogue, I used to frequent alt.fan.elvis-costello where I conversed with a group of smart, literate music fans/computer nerds who shared my fondness for Elvis Costello.
The Web has become so much about images and sounds that it’s hard to believe there was a time when people engaged each other on the Internet primarily through words.
It reminds me of the Infocom video games I loved in the 80s, which consisted of text descriptions of your adventure and simple prompts where the player would type things like “Walk west” and “Pick up the key.” Compared to today’s cinema-quality games, those things are like cave paintings.
Costello put all of his recent vocal training to good use on his next release, a collection of crooner ballads written with Burt Bacharach. This is far and away the squarest release of his career — even The Juliet Letters feels like punk next to this one.
Meet Me In Montauk 